Answer to Question #288321 in English for Jnls

Question

Identify Giuseppe Mazzini and his contribution/s to internationalism.

Answer 1

Giuseppe Mazzini, Genoese propagandist and revolutionary, founder of the secret revolutionary society Young Italy (1832), and a champion of the movement for Italian unity known as the Risorgimento. His contribution to internationalism was;

(i) Mazzini put together a coherent programme for a unitary Italian Republic.

(ii) He had formed a secret society called Young Italy for the dissemination of his goals.

(iii) Mazzini's relentless opposition to monarchy and his vision of democratic republics frightened the conservatives.

He played an important role in unification of Italy and because of his efforts Italy became unified and independent. Mazzini helped define the modern European movement for popular democracy in a republican state.

He advanced a universal idea of civilization, which he identified with constitutionalism and free circulation of ideas and goods. Finally, he advocated the establishment of a new international order, based on the recovery of the balance of power destroyed by the Napoleonic wars, and the introduction of a new international legal system and supranational institutions. Mazzini supported the idea of an international system alternative to the Vienna settlement, their notion of universal civilization, and the right of intervention to defend another country's freedom. However, his internationalism ignored the concern for international law as it was based on the belief that the establishment of republics would ‘naturally’ result in a peaceful European order.